open day – Friends of Wighton

Wednesday 21st June: Make Music Day 10.30am – 4.30pm Free!

11th June 2023 barbaradymock concerts, dundee, guitar, harmony, music, open day, Scottish, song, traditional

Celebrate Make Music Day at the Wighton! A chance to see some of our treasured music books up close and personal and to hear:

11am – 12 noon The Doolichters – Dundee’s oldest boy band! The Doolichters comprise 4 ageing but sophisticated musicians with their own peculiar take on their home city of Dundee. Currently working on the 4^th album in their musical trilogy, they have taken time off from their busy recording schedule to add another live performance to their legendary world tour of Dundee (and thereabouts)

1.15 – 1.45pm Morag Dunbar – fine traditional singer, well-known and loved across Scotland and originally from Kirkcaldy. While at Edinburgh University, she got into the lively scene, learning to play guitar, joining Edinburgh Folk Club and touring with the legendary Maggie and Liz Cruikshank. Now living in Balerno, she is one of the organisers of Balerno Folk Club, regularly performing there and, with friends, at other clubs

1.55 – 2.15pm Positive Notes – an Occupational Therapy Singing Group for adults with a learning disability. The group meet on Monday afternoons in the Wighton Centre & they all love to sing and have fun. The group sing everything from pop, rock, folk, jazz, motown & musicals. They also like to perform on stage twice a year with props and percussion for family and friends.

2.25 – 3.00pm Wighton Singers – This Wighton’s own, the group meets every Tuesday afternoon in the Wighton Heritage Centre under the musical direction of renowned singer and teacher, Amy Lord. Great voices, a wide-ranging repertoire and stunning harmonies!

In between times there will be impromptu tunes and songs from Wighton Friends and visiting musicians – bring your voice and/or instrument along and Make Music!!

Amy Lord

Historical Gaelic harp come and try!

3rd September 2016 simonchadwick clarsach, dundee, Gaelic, harp, medieval, music, open day, Scottish, Simon Chadwick, traditional, workshop

Historical Gaelic harp come and try!

Sat 10th September, 2pm,

Come and have a go at playing a medieval clarsach, in Dundee’s Wighton Centre, upstairs in the Central Library.

The old Gaelic harp of Scotland and Ireland is very different and much more ancient than the modern clarsach or Celtic harp you might be more familiar with. The ancient clarsach was shared between Ireland and Scotland from medieval times down to the 18th century.

The best known examples are iconic museum exhibits: the famous Brian Boru harp displayed in Trinity College Dublin, and the beautiful Queen Mary harp in the National Museum in Edinburgh. The Brian Boru harp is shown on the Guinness label!

Historical Gaelic harps are rare, and are hardly ever heard nowadays. Simon Chadwick is a historical musician and a leading authority in the old Scottish and Irish harp traditions, and he will bring beautiful historic replicas of the ancient harps into Dundee for this come-and-try session.

Simon, an inspiring teacher, leads a regular harp class in the Wighton Centre in Dundee, and there are now spaces for new participants and harps available to rent. So come along on Saturday 10th to explore the oldest strands of Scottish and Irish music.

More info
https://friendsofwighton.com
http://www.simonchandwick.net

Wighton Centre open days

26th November 2015 simonchadwick books, clarsach, dundee, fiddle, Gaelic song, harp, harpsichord, Jimmy Shand, Karen Hannah, manuscripts, music, open day, party, Scots song, Scottish, Sheena Wellingon, Simon Chadwick, traditional, whistle

The Friends of Wighton group will welcome the Scottish Traditional Music Awards to Dundee by inviting visiting and local music lovers to take a close-up look at the fascinating Wighton Collection and enjoy a live music sessionat the same time.

The Centre will be open from 2pm to 5pm on Friday 4th December and from 10am -12.15pm on Saturday 5th December. Books will be on display and Wighton tutors and committee members will be there to sing, play and answer questions!

The Wighton Heritage Centre was opened on 24th November 2003. Located upstairs in Dundee Central Library, it provides a dedicated space for the storage and display of the internationally important Wighton Collection. 700 volumes of old Scottish music were collected together in the early 19th century by Dundee merchant Andrew Wighton, and were bequeathed to the city after his death.

The Wighton books with other donations and acquisitions, are now kept in glass-fronted bookcases in the Wighton Centre. The Centre also acts as a bright, atmospheric performance and study centre, allowing scholars to access the riches of the collection, and providing a lovely performance space for music and other events.

As well as a monthly Cappuccino Concert, and a free Wednesday lunchtime recital every month, the Friends of Wighton run classes in traditional Scottish music every week: Scots song, Gaelic song, fiddle, whistle and clarsach (Scottish harp).

The Friends also work towards the conservation and cataloguing of the collection of books, and have made some important acquisitions to add to the collection. They are currently fundraising to conserve rare music books from the collection of Sir Jimmy Shand and visitors will be able to contribute. Jimmy’s musical taste was exemplary, as shown by the lovely 18th and 19th century manuscripts in his collection. Rumour has it that one or two of the Shand books, currently not on public display, might make an appearance at the Open Days!